John Gibbons Quotes (249 Quotes)


    First of all, he's been in the organization a long time. Second, he's had a lot of these guys, ... He's a good baseball man, and he's paid his dues. And he's from the South.

    We kind of had him ahead of the others coming out of spring training.

    He was in command. He was down in the zone all night.

    He's out there and he's healthy. They found some holes, but I thought he pitched OK. He was around the plate.

    We're going to give this a go. That's our plan. If somebody is really hot and we're trying to win games, it may come down to that.


    I don't see him playing the rest of the year. It doesn't make any sense. Of course he's disappointed. But he understands that it's late.

    Alex made some adjustments to his stance. I just see him better than I've ever seen him. He's more aggressive. He's not getting overpowered at the plate. I see him as one of those guys getting better and better. This is going to make it tougher, because he's not out there every day. You hope it doesn't stunt his growth. Right now you're looking at it as what's best for the team. He'll get plenty of action.

    We wanted to make sure he was all right. He proved that he was today.

    It was good to see him out there. He was erratic in his command. But he's got such a good arm that he can pitch from behind in the count at times. It will be easier for him when he works ahead.

    He's a big part of the future here. There's no question about that. He'll iron it out. He's too good not to.

    Nobody likes or knows Phillips as much as I do. It's going to be really tough to break camp with the big-league club, barring an injury. Phillips at least has an out in his contract at the end of spring. He could go somewhere else. He can elect to leave and pursue other teams at the end of Spring Training. He likes it here. He'd love to play here, he said, and he had some other options this winter.

    We like a couple guys down there in Triple-A that can come up and do that job. We're not looking at it as a one-time deal. Of course if the guy comes up and struggles, we may change that. But we want the guy to make a few starts until A.J. is ready.

    He's a big man and he's not afraid to speak up.

    He wasn't real sharp. But they have a good-hitting club. They make you pay if you make mistakes and that's what it was.

    Preliminary exams say the same thing. We'll let (Dr. Andrews) determine that and then go from there. It's big. The second time it's happened to him. You've got to move on. We've just got to hold down the fort and hopefully he's not out for any length of time.

    The thing about this game is that it doesn't wait on you.

    He's got to be able to move laterally. And he's still got some pain, ... If he goes that long, I don't think it makes any sense for the final three games of the year -- unless he has some incentive bonuses.

    I thought he had another one. Nixon made a nice play over his shoulder. Couple more feet, he at least clears the bases with a double.

    He's coming in Tuesday, I believe. They took his daughter home. She's OK. I'm pretty sure he's going to be back tomorrow. I think it was some kind of virus that affected her respiratory system, but I don't know that for a fact.

    The platoon is still on. He's just hit Javier Vazquez good. That's all. Nothing more than that. And he's playing good.

    He's become a better pitcher. He's throwing more strikes. He's got a better feel for that breaking ball now, and he's locating his fastball better. He's ahead more and he's been real tough on right-handers.

    I expect his command to be a little bit better. I talked to a couple pitching coaches that I ran into last week and they said, 'Hey, you'll find out that when he's on, you sit back in the dugout and it's fun to watch him.' We hope he has one of those on Friday.

    I don't see the point in running him out there at this point in the year. It doesn't make sense.

    It would be a big blow if it's something serious. We're hoping not. But I mean, even if it's nothing serious it's going to set him back. We don't know for how long. I mean, we're pulling for the kid. And if it's something serious, then we've got to make adjustments like we did last year.

    He's a threat when he just stands in the box. That's what we brought him over here for to drive the ball and be a presence in the middle of the lineup.

    We even talked about it last winter, about him possibly being the leadoff guy to start the season,

    That's hurt him. There's no question about it.

    He wants to pitch, but you know it's not worth it. You've got to look at the big picture. If this was September and we're in the thing . . .

    I had Vance for three years in the Minor Leagues, and I thought he was going to be an All-Star catcher one day. But he got in a collision at home plate and cracked a bone in his wrist -- so he was done for the year,

    He was moving like nothing ever happened. I didn't see any hesitation or anything. We'll know better tomorrow.

    Ideally he gets through. But for his sake you hope he gets claimed. Guys who played for you in the past, you always want the best for those guys.

    When he throws strikes, he's as good as anybody. When he figures it out, watch out. He was on. Nobody's going to hit that guy today.


    You can pencil those guys in, when the season starts, for 130 RBIs apiece. That's a given. They don't miss. That's why they're MVP candidates.

    The few days I've seen, I've got a pretty good idea of how he's going to be. I think he's going to be solid. I think he's going to improve throughout the year. As the season goes on, he's going to get better and more comfortable out there.

    He's one of those guys that, when he's on, he can shut you down. And the good ones, when they get in jams, they get out of them. A lot of times, that's where games are won and lost, but the good ones rise to the occasion.

    The MRI had nothing to do with the injury. He didn't come here and it was bothering him and the next day we scheduled the exam. Anybody who gets a big contract -- those big guaranteed contracts -- they get an exam just for insurance reasons. It's standard. They all have them out there.

    He's got a valid argument for winning that thing. Very few rookies throw 200 innings. If you really dig deep and look at the kind of year he's had, he deserves some pretty good consideration.

    Ted (Lilly) has a bad back right now, something he felt the day after his last start (March 26). So we'll give him an extra day of rest and have Josh (Towers) start the second game and Lilly the third.

    A lot of the Latin players -- the guys who do Winter Ball -- are geared for that. They get some time off and then they pitch. Those guys pitch year-round, doing something, ... He's a strong guy. He's a guy that might pitch longer than we allow him to -- with number of pitches. You usually don't see that much of a drop off.

    Sometimes there's personality conflicts. He was frustrated. Things were said he probably regrets.

    I think that's common knowledge. Maybe not, but it's going to be soon. Great experience -- they love to work and everybody gets along. You'll run into some staffs where everybody doesn't see eye-to-eye and there's a little separation. With this group, everybody has a good time together and we're not afraid to disagree.

    The first day we got down here, I said, 'The numbers are against you, but you still need to approach it like you're going out there to try and make this team.' I just want him to have fun. I don't know what teams are looking for a catcher. Certain teams, if we try to get him through waivers, there's teams that may want to go with the young guys and might take a chance on him. It's unfortunate he had those couple years where he was injured.

    There was no reason at all to toss me. Everyone thought the ball hit the dirt. I guess he thought I was arguing balls and strikes.

    Very few guys come along like that, once every 20, 30 years, guys who take the game by storm right out of the gates. Hernandez is just way ahead of most 19 year olds, that's the difference. Otherwise these guys don't get here that fast. Same thing with Gooden. I don't know about that comparison yet, but he'd be pretty good if he is.

    I don't even know if we're looking for that. I just know my guys. They've got a lot of heart. They just get after it.



    Roy has missed nine starts so far. You figure he's good for at least four wins. Where are we with four more wins

    We're going to need them. There are going to be days in the year we are going to have to call on them to do the job and hold the fort so we can try to win a game. They did that today.


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